[uf-new] feedback wanted on property listing microformat

[Scott Reynen]

On Mar 20, 2007, at 7:09 AM, Michael Biven wrote:

> On 3/20/07, Ryan King <ryan at technorati.com> wrote:
>
>> Before proposing that we replace, replicate or extend hListing,
>> please experiment with it on actual examples and provide feedback
>> about its limitations. As of now, your objections are theoretical.
>
> That you can count on. I have to disagree that my point is
> theoretical, but instead it is practical. There is enough common
> fields between each of the different types of real estate listings
> that are not included with hListings, becasue it deals with a much
> larger set of different types of unrelated  "things" to list.

Actual experimentation with hListing is more useful than abstract  
discussion.  We could go around in circles about whether hListing  
would help for months, or someone could actually try it and we could  
all see clearly where it works and where it doesn't.  The latter is  
strongly preferred.

>> Microformats don't encode every possible bit of information, instead
>> they focus on the most common and useful parts.
>
> To me that sentence in itself explains pretty well why people dealing
> with  real estate listings would benefit from having a separate
> standard for them.

No one benefits from unused standards, and what Ryan suggested would  
provide an indication that people dealing with real estate listings  
are willing to experiment with standards before their problem is 100%  
solved.  If they're not, we're just wasting our time, because  
microformats never solve 100% of anything.  It's an iterative  
process, and we always need experimentation with the current  
iteration to inform the next.  That's why participation of relevant  
publishers is so crucial.

--
Scott Reynen
MakeDataMakeSense.com